Thought I'd spend kind of a normal, non-tourist day so my big agenda was to get a haircut and buy a shirt.
I was going to label this entry 'going out to eat.' Getting something to eat while travelling is not the same as going out to eat as a social thing. Because I'm living in hotels and I'm by myself, going out to eat simply means getting a something to eat for the most part. There isn't really much of anythi social about it except occasionally.
I decided to have breakfast at the hotel. The hotel has kind of two levels and I got sat below an American couple. I did not want the buffet and it took forever for a waiter to come by to take an order.
I had brought reading material and had coffee so just sat and read. The wife basically read the entire newspaper to her husband and commented on every story. I think he may have said three words the entire time. I began to feel like I was the husband and had been married to this woman for 25 years.
I had seen on the hotel's map that the Freud Museum was in the neighborhood saw figured I would go there before heading downtown for haircut and shopping. The museum is in a residential area because it is in the house he lived in the last year of his life. I found it but it doesn't open until noon.
I decided to hop on a double-decker bus to get downtown. These things are great for site seeing and only cost £1 with my Oyster card. I had seen some men's barbershops near my first hotel and thought that would be the easiest.
Getting my haircut was the best therapy. It meant I was living here. I had been feeling so much out of tune and for some reason this made things click.
I then headed to Selfridges to buy a shirt with the gift certificates from Marlin. What an amazing store! It is a full block long. And a very long block. It is also 4 or 5 stories tall. I'm not much of a shopper but this store is beautiful. Every brand you could imagine and many I had never heard of are there.
I didn't last too long though. I had read that service in stores is not the same as back in the States. That could not be truer. You have to approach the service people. They do not approach you.
I debated about eating at Selfridges. There are more eating places inside the store than most food courts in an American mall. Instead I headed outside to find a pub or something. Ran into Cock and Lion pub. Had a delicious game pie with pies and chips (french fries). Also, two beers, of course.
The bartenders were nice and one was chatty. I don't know why but everyone knows I'm American right away! :-)
